The Beatitudes Compared To Alma 7:23-24

You may know that I was set apart as a member of my stake high council this morning, something I did not expect at all and certainly not now, thinking Willyne and I had just agreed to continue on for another year or more as church service missionaries working in the 12 step addiction recovery program.

Of course, I was put right to work, and just a few hours after being set apart, I spoke in La Verkin 3rd Ward on the topic of comparing our 2013 stake theme to the Beatitudes.  I had enough material for twenty minutes or so ... as it turns out I had about eight minutes.  If you are interested, click on the link and you can read the notes I prepared for the talk.  The actual talk was the portions of this I was inspired to give, skipping the rest to fit the time available.  As always, I believe the speaker got more out of this than anyone else :-) 

1. Thank each of the previous speakers and musical numbers, say something that touched me about each.
2. Welcome and greeting of stake presidency.  They are mindful of each of us as individuals and pray for us.  As you may know, I am one of four new high council members set apart … just this morning.  As is true for all in the Lord’s Kingdom, no time is wasted putting each of our shoulders to the wheel, and I pray for the Lord’s blessing and His Spirit so I can be up to the task.…and I appreciate your prayers as well.
3. Isn’t it wonderful to live in LaVerkin (Stake) where we can enjoy not only our spectacular scenic valley, but the testimonies and spirit that are here.  Sister Beecher, who was kind enough to join me today, and I feel your spirit and your welcome and appreciate it very much.
4. Bear testimony.  Smile.
5. My assignment today is to discuss our Stake Theme and the Beatitudes and how they relate to each other.  Let’s start by thinking about their words, starting in 3 Nephi 27:21:
6. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do …
7. Continuing now in Alma 7:23-24, “And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle, easy to be entreated (beatitude 3,5: “poor in spirit who come unto me; meek); full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.(beatitude 6, “hunger and thirst after righteousness”) And see that ye have faith (beatitude 1-2, “more blessed”), hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works. (beatitude 12, For ^aye shall have great joy and be exceedingly glad, for great shall be your ^breward in heaven)”     [My note here:  The portions in parentheses were for my own reference but were not spoken, nor intended to be spoken.]
8. As the Bible Dictionary notes, we can find the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, Luke 6, with a more comprehensive listing in 3 Nephi 12:1-12.  This is the one I will share with you now,

9.      “ And it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words unto Nephi, and to those who had been called, (now the number of them who had been called, and received power and authority to ^bbaptize, was ^ctwelve) and behold, he stretched forth his hand unto the multitude, and cried unto them, saying: ^dBlessed are ye if ye shall give heed unto the words of these twelve whom I have ^echosen from among you to minister unto you, and to be your servants; and unto them I have given power that they may baptize you with water; and after that ye are baptized with water, behold, I will baptize you with fire and with the Holy Ghost; therefore blessed are ye if ye shall believe in me and be baptized, after that ye have seen me and know that I am.

“ And again, more blessed are they who shall ^abelieve in your words because that ye shall testify that ye have seen me, and that ye know that I am. Yea, blessed are they who shall^bbelieve in your ^cwords, and ^dcome down into the depths of humility and be baptized, for they shall be visited ^ewith fire and with the Holy Ghost, and shall receive a remission of their sins.

“ Yea, blessed are the ^apoor in spirit who ^bcome unto me, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“ And again, blessed are all they that ^amourn, for they shall be ^bcomforted.

“ And blessed are the ^ameek, for they shall inherit the ^bearth.

“ And blessed are all they who do ^ahunger and ^bthirst after ^crighteousness, for they shall be^dfilled with the Holy Ghost.

“ And blessed are the ^amerciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

“ And blessed are all the ^apure in heart, for they shall ^bsee God.

“ And blessed are all the ^apeacemakers, for they shall be called the ^bchildren of God.

“ And blessed are all they who are ^apersecuted for my name’s sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 “And blessed are ye when men shall ^arevile you and persecute, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake;

“ For ^aye shall have great joy and be exceedingly glad, for great shall be your ^breward in heaven; for so ^cpersecuted they the prophets who were before you.

10. There are several things included in both our Stake Theme and the Beatitudes.  Bear testimony.  Smile!  Among other things these include:

Be humble, and be submissive and gentle, easy to be entreated (beatitude 3,5: “poor in spirit who come unto me; meek); full of patience and long-suffering; Bear testimony.  Smile!  President Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s talk “Continue in Patience” given in the April 2010 General Conference, teaches us that “The lessons we learn from patience will cultivate our character, lift our lives, and heighten our happiness.” … (He says) I learned that patience was far more than simplywaiting for something to happen—patience required actively workingtoward worthwhile goals and not getting  discouraged when results didn’t appear instantly or without effort. …             President Uchtdorf goes on to say: “There is an important concept here: patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means  staying with something and doing all that we can—working, hoping, and exercising faith; bearing hardship with fortitude, even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!              President Uchtdorf then teaches that                                                                                    Patience, (is) a Principle of the Priesthood

As priesthood bearers and representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ, we must serve others in a  manner consistent with His example. There is a reason that almost every lesson on priesthood leadership at some point arrives at the 121st section of the Doctrine and Covenants. In a few verses, the Lord provides a master course in priesthood leadership. “No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by  persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned.” ² 

The character traits and practices described in these verses are the foundation of godly patience and are inseparably connected to effective priesthood and patriarchal service. These attributes will give you strength and wisdom in magnifying your callings, in preaching the gospel, in fellowshipping quorum members, and in  giving the most important priesthood service—which is indeed the loving service within the walls of your own homes.

Let us always remember that one of the reasons God has entrusted the priesthood to us is to help prepare us for eternal blessings by refining our natures through the patience which priesthood service requires.

As the Lord is patient with us, let us be patient with those we serve. Understand that they, like us, are imperfect. They, like us, make mistakes. They, like us, want others to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Never give up on anyone. And that includes not giving up on yourself.

I believe that every one of us, at one time or another, can identify with the servant in Christ’s parable who owed money to the king and who pled with the king, saying, “Lord, have patience with me.”  

11. being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.(beatitude 6, “hunger and thirst after righteousness”) Bear testimony.  Smile!  the October 2012 General Conference Talk, “By Faith All Things Are Fulfilled” by Elder Marcus B. Nash Of the Seventy: “sin diminishes the presence of the Spirit in our lives, and without the Holy Ghost, we will lack the spiritual stamina to hold onto and exercise faith. It is best to exercise our faith to“touch not the evil gift, nor the unclean thing” and to “be diligent in keeping all [the] commandments, lest … your faith fail you, and your enemies triumph over you.”³¹ If sin has stained your life, I invite you to exercise “faith unto repentance,”³² and the Savior, through the Atonement, will purify and heal your life. Sister Beecher and I just completed a church service mission working with the 12 Step Addiction Recovery Program.  It is a wonderful program that gives hope to all of us that through personally accepting the atonement of Jesus Christ, He will give us the power to repent and be cleansed from whatever sin or weakness we have.  His love for us is truly unconditional, it is up to us to exercise hope and faith that we can be clean again through Him.  This is a continual process throughout life, we would do well to follow these 12 steps in our lives and when we reach step 12, return to step 1, which is: “Admit that you, of yourself, are powerless to overcome your addictions (or: sins and weaknesses) and that your life has become unmanageable.”  Admit that you need the love and support of our Savior, ask in hope and faith to receive it.”  This is a fundamental part of hungering and thirsting after righteousness.
12. And see that ye have faith (beatitude 1-2, “more blessed”), hope, and charity  Bear testimony.  Smile! Elder Marcus continues:                            

A.       Faith is both a principle of action and of power.⁶ It “is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if [we] have faith [we]hope for things which are not seen, which  are true.” (refer back to beatitude 2) It is an assurance of the Spirit gained through our learning that moves us to act to follow the example of the Savior and prayerfully keep His commandments, even through times of sacrifice and trial.¹⁰ Faith brings us the power of the Lord, which—among other things—is manifested by a hope of good things to come,¹¹miracles that confirm our faith,¹² and divine protection in spiritual and temporal matters.

B.         ^SisterAnn Rowley, a member of the Willie Handcart Company, when completely out of food, in faith and hope applied the example of the Lord feeding 5000 with 5 loaves and 2 fishes.  She found 2 hard sea biscuits that were not large and were so hard they couldn’t be broken.  She had faith and hope that with God’s help, nothing is impossible.  She relates:  I found the biscuits and put them in a dutch oven andcovered them with water and asked for God’s blessing. Then Iput the lid on the pan and set it on the coals. When I took  off the lid a little later, I found the pan filled with food. I kneeled with my family and thanked God for his goodness. That night my family had sufficient food. Notice how this example of faith ties back into our previous discussion of being consistently diligent in keep the commandments, asking for whatsoever you need, and always returning thanks unto God (pause for effect) – asking worthily in faith gives us the Lord’s power … and we need to remember and humbly acknowledge from where it came. (Did this only apply a century or two ago?  No.  It is equally applicable to our need to apply faith today.  For example, consider our Priesthood Encampment.  Sister Beecher and I were asked to plan a menu, staffing, and equipment to feed 450 people and given 18 months to figure it out.  We prayed, worked, prayed, worked, and prayed some more.  We did not have enough people.  More than once we looked around at all the food that had to be cut, assembled, cooked, and delivered and there was no way to do it in the few hours we had, even after working late and getting up very early.  We saw miracles happen daily, with helpers appearing just when they were needed and in some cases we know there were unseen helpers.  After which, much humble thanks was given to the Lord!  I offer this example from the Encampment as simply that, an example.  Every one of us have impossible things to face throughout our lives.  We need miracles.  We need ministering angels.  We need to rescue each other as President Monson has asked us.  To get them, we follow our Stake Theme, we follow the Beatitudes.  We need to be consistently diligent in keeping the commandments, in praying in faith and hope for everything we need both spiritual and temporal, and then humbly thanking the Lord for the blessings and miracles he sends to us.  We are entitled to this when we don’t know where our next meal is coming from, or with any other need we have, just as Sister Rowley was.  And when doubt comes, Elder Nash in his Conference talk reminds us of King Benjamin’s words given in Mosiah 4:9:  “Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.”  You might want to consider memorizing that verse so you can run it through your mind every time doubt passes through … faith and hope is the opposite of doubt – there is only room for one in your heart and mind at a time, so choose faith and hope!

13. And then after the both the Beatitudes and our Stake Theme discuss patience, humility, diligence, obedience, faith, hope, repentance, hungering and thirsting after righteousness … and more hope and faith … comes the Lord’s promise:  and then ye will always abound in good works. (beatitude 12, For ^aye shall have great joy and be exceedingly glad, for great shall be your ^breward in heaven)” President Thomas S. Monson has stated, “The future is as bright as your faith. “ Do we know a greater optimist than our ever cheerful Prophet who just celebrated his 86^th birthday?
14.  I bear testimony that God is real.  He lives.  He cares about us individually.  Each of us, as his unique son or daughter, is truly His greatest creation.  He sacrificed His Only Begotten Son for Us.  Jesus Christ is real.  He lives.  He willingly and painfully paid for our sins.  The Holy Ghost is real.  He lives.  His gift to us is a true Pearl of Great Price.  The restoration of the Gospel and Church of Jesus Christ to the earth in our day is real.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is His Church.  He leads it and has called a prophet as He promised He would in Amos 3:7 “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto his servants the prophets”.  I bear testimony that the Lord’s Prophet for us today is Thomas S. Monson, a wonderful, cheerful, hopeful, faithful, patient, and loving man who has given his life in service to the Lord and to us.
15.  When President Monson says “The future is as bright as your faith.”  Believe him completely!
16. Smile! [and conclude]